Streamline public sector

The assurance given by Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa that privatization would not be carried out willy-nilly is most welcome indeed. We say this because even former President Chandrika Kumaratunga made similar pledges in keeping with her party policy of State ownership of enterprises. However even she reneged on this pledge and privatized State ventures.

Even Shell which was shown the door by her mother in the early sixties was invited back to set up business. There was also the sale of the national carrier to Emirates that was tainted with scandal. All that was said about giving privatization a human face came a cropper under her tenure.

Minister Yapa addressing the weekly SLFP media briefing said that the Government had no intention of privatizing the economic nerve centres but would strengthen the public sector enterprizes in partnership with the private sector. He charged that the UNP totally surrendered the economy to the private sector. He referred to the sale of Sathosa and the Paddy Marketing Board.

True, privatization was carried out across the board by the JR Government post-77 which came in for bitter criticism by the then Opposition and not without reason. The damage this did to the country was immense with our national wealth exploited to the hilt. JR promised the people an era of plenty as opposed to rationing and queues that prevailed under the previous dispensation.

And so he opened the doors to all comers. This was done on the basis of providing the people with plenty of goods as promised on the election platform and also generating employment. The country was flooded with substandard goods that were discarded by other countries ringing the death knell to the local industries.

The country’s wealth and resources were pillaged by fly by night companies while the JR pronounced his credo “let the robber barons come.” All profit making State ventures were sold for a song to henchmen giving birth to the term, ‘crony capitalism’ for the first time in Sri Lanka. The best example of this was the CTB workshop in Werehera where buses were cannibalized and resold for profit. All the commanding heights of the economy were privatized earning fat commissions and kick backs for the top echelons in power.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his Mahinda Chintana has given a firm pledge that he would not privatize any State venture but would take steps to make them viable entities by proper streamlining and eliminating corruption. He has so far honoured this pledge and being a doughty fighter against privatization as a young politician there is no doubt that he will keep to his promise. On the contrary, the Government is repurchasing its shares that were sold to the private sector, the Telecom and Shell Gas being two examples showing the Government’s commitment to State enterprise.

Saying that we hasten to add that we should not throw the baby with the bath water. Though privatization for the sake of it should be avoided we could benefit by its inputs and like Minister Yapa observed the Government while maintaining control of State ventures would go into partnership with the private sector to uplift and upgrade the public sector to face up to the modern challenges.

There is no doubt that the State ventures could benefit from the innovative methods and systems of the private sector to expand and maximise their profits. After all, the Private sector is credited with being the engine of growth. The public sector can only benefit by this partnership.

There is also a need to streamline the workforce in the public sector if they are to remain viable entities. Today our public sector workforce are notorious for their lethargy and lack of initiative as against the dynamism of the private sector which is demonstrated in their profit making capacity, expansion and diversification.

While holding on to public enterprise there is a need to make its workforce more enterprising and on the ball. Today the chief reason for the public sector losses is the lethargy, inefficiency and overstaffing. On the contrary the private sector demands from its employees are exacting and there is no overstaffing - a factor that has eaten into vitals and viability of our public sector venture.

The Government therefore while retaining public sector enterprises should encourage healthy competition with the private sector if they are to be made viable entities. For this it should strive to function on the level of the private sector assimilating their competence and flair and expertise. This would naturally entail trimming the fat in the public sector and adopting various cost saving methods.

The Government should not flinch from such a course of action if our public sector is to be resuscitated from its present slumber and be a worthy competitor to the private sector. For, it is only effective competition that would drive the State sector to be on par if not overtake the efficient dynamo of the private sector and be an important player in the corporate world.